Sunday, June 7, 1998 Last modified at 1:36 a.m. on Sunday, June 7, 1998

India, Pakistan blast U.N. demands to halt nuclear testing

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The 15 members of the Security Council demanded Saturday in a unanimous vote that India and Pakistan refrain from further nuclear tests, halt weapons programs and sign nuclear control agreements unconditionally.

The Indian Foreign Ministry denounced the resolution as "coercive and unhelpful" and said "we find it grotesque that an organ of the United Nations should seek to address India in this manner."

Pakistan's U.N. ambassador, Ahmad Kamal, accused major powers of using nuclear treaties "to legitimize their own possession of huge nuclear arsenals ... in perpetuity and as a blunt instrument" to deny them to others.

Other non-nuclear states, including Canada, also sent a strong message to the United States and the other four nuclear powers, telling them to fulfill commitments to reduce their own nuclear arsenals.

The message points up the challenge facing the nuclear powers - the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain - in marshaling international pressure to curb the nuclear arms race in South Asia.

The resolution, co-sponsored by Japan, Slovenia, Sweden and Costa Rica, denied India and Pakistan legal status as "nuclear powers." Formal status would enable them to keep their nuclear arms under the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Japanese Ambassador Hishashi Owada said the Indian and Pakistani tests last month threaten the entire global system of nuclear controls and could plunge the international community "into an uncontrollable world of nuclear proliferation."

U.S. Ambassador Bill Richardson echoed that remark, saying the tests "represent a profound blow" to efforts to control nuclear weapons and called on the two countries to heed the council's call "because it is in their own best interest."

However, Kamal said Pakistan "reserves the right... to deter aggression by conventional weapons or non-conventional means."

It was clear from the debate surrounding the resolution that while many nations oppose the tests by India and Pakistan, they have troubles with the way the Security Council has handled the nuclear issue.

Iran, Egypt and Bahrain accused it of following a double-standard by ignoring Israel's suspected nuclear program.

Israel, which has never confirmed having weapons but is widely assumed to have the know-how to build a bomb quickly, has refused to sign the non-proliferation treaty and accept international safeguards on its nuclear program.

"We expect the Security Council to ... single out Israel to adhere to this treaty," Egyptian Ambassador Nabil Elaraby said.

Nuclear states agreed to take steps to reduce their arsenals as part of a compromise agreement to convince other nations to accept an indefinite extension of the non-proliferation treaty three years ago.

To the nuclear powers, Kenyan Ambassador Njunguna Mahugu said "the rest of us expect you to seriously take your responsibility of finally removing the threat of nuclear weapons."

The resolution condemned the South Asian tests and urged India and Pakistan to halt deployment of missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads and to sign nuclear arms control treaties.

It also calls on India and Pakistan to exercise restraint and find "mutually acceptable solutions" to the "root causes of those tensions, including Kashmir," the Himalayan territory disputed by them.

The resolution welcomed an offer by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to encourage India and Pakistan to resume a high-level dialogue that broke down last year because of differences over Kashmir.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since 1947 - two of them over Kashmir, which is physically divided between the two countries.